Elephants enter Hazaribagh town, damage ‘Gibraltar House’

Hazaribagh : Workers showing the flower pots which were damaged by a herd of 15 elephants at Gibraltar House in Hazaribagh on Monday. PTI Photo (PTI9_9_2013_000147B)

A herd of 15 elephants on Monday damaged the 150-year-old ‘Gibraltar House’ built by a judge of the Calcutta High Court at Kanhari Hills in Hazaribagh town.

The elephants damaged the “Gibraltar House”, built by late S.C. Mallick, a judge of the Calcutta High Court, but none was hurt in the raids by the elephants, said Ajit Kumar, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Hazaribagh East (Forest) Division.

Anticipating food grains stored in the “Gibraltar House”, the herd attacked it around 3.45 a.m. and totally destroyed its balcony, facing the famous Kanhari Hill, said a guard of the house, Naresh Paswan.

The herd of elephants consisted of 12 adults and three calves, including a three-week-old, the DFO said.

The herd also attacked a school’s hostel razing a portion of the boundary wall and smashed the windows of the kitchen, Mr. Kumar said.

Expressing concern over the entry of the pachyderms in the town from the forests, the DFO said he was informed by the forester of the “Forest Training School for Foresters” and guards at the foothills of the Kanhari Hills in the town.

The eyewitnesses at Kanhari Hills said it was the first time that the elephants entered the town.

Mr. Kumar said that the herd, which did not hurt anyone, was searching for food in the area full of Pipa, Pargad, Pakar trees and Banana trees and Bamboo plantations.

“I saw a elephant-calf feeding on her mother elephant,” said Pappu Singh, a resident of the Kanhari Hills .